1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
1 Animate nouns almost exclusively take the type II accusative ending, whereas inanimate nouns can be used with either ending, but are more often found with type I.
Он плоди́т недоуме́ния,он разруша́ет мне́ния, твё́рдо устано́вленные века́ми,он говори́т о но́вых доброде́телях, кото́рые на́до познава́ть и разы́скивать,он говори́т о божестве́, кото́рое нам ещё́ неве́домо.
On plodít nedouménija,on razrušájet mnénija, tvjórdo ustanóvlennyje vekámi,on govorít o nóvyx dobrodételjax, kotóryje nádo poznavátʹ i razýskivatʹ,on govorít o božestvé, kotóroje nam ješčó nevédomo.
He has wrought confusion,he overthrows beliefs that have existed since the beginning,he speaks of new virtues which must be recognised and sought for,he speaks of a Divinity hitherto unknown to us.
Whenever a nonderivedpreposition stands immediately before any of theoblique cases of thethird-personpronoun (singular or plural) and directly governs it, then anн-(n-) must be prefixed to the pronoun:отнего́(ot nevó,“from him”);нанём(na njom,“on him”);унего́(u nevó,“he has”);кнему́(k nemú,“to him”);сним(s nim,“with him”).
This comes from Proto-Slavic prepositions such as*sъ(n)(“with”) (compare Ancient Greekσύν(sún) and Latincum), that originally ended in*-n and governed oblique cases. Since the prepositions and the pronouns occurred together so often, it was easy to lose track of which word the final*-n belonged to, and so it was reinterpreted as part of the pronouns; compare Old Englishan, which was reinterpreted in the same way. Proto-Slavic*sъ(n)*jьmi became modern Russianсни́ми(s ními), and this rule was extended to all prepositions governing any third-person pronoun.
Note that if the preposition does not directly governего́(jevó) (i.e., whenего́(jevó) is apossessive pronoun), thenн-(n-) is not added:уего́бра́та(u jevó bráta,“at his brother's”);отего́ма́тери(ot jevó máteri,“from his mother”);вего́ко́мнате(v jevó kómnate,“in his room”).
When there is another word separating a preposition and any oblique case ofон(on), thenн-(n-) is not added:усамого́ его́(u samovó jevó,“with him himself”).
